World of Warcraft
World of Warcraft is a video game that consists of 6 releases
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The game's universe begins in the world where Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne left off. The game tells most of its story through quests and dungeons, or by larger groups of players completing certain major challenges, like defeating Illidan, Lady Vashj, and other characters from the Warcraft universe. In World of Warcraft, the races are divided evenly into two factions: Horde and Alliance.
Quests provide experience points, money, reputation, and sometimes items for completion. Experience is required to rise in levels, and money is used to buy things like mounts, which become available at level 30, buying items on the auction house, and buying services or items from other players.
WoW does not leave the larger dungeons in the open world. It "instances" them on non-realm servers. Here, " instance" is more of a software term which means simply means running two copies of something. If someone opens two copies of Winamp, for example, it can be said that the user is running two "instances" of the program.
It's not unusual during times of world server problems for players to be disconnected or experience lag, and those in dungeons, battlegrounds, and raids are entirely unaffected. Example: the Malfurion server can disconnect everyone on the Kalimdor side (one of the game's continents), but a group in Shadowfang Keep will experience no such problems.
Instances have their own quests, and require killing the end boss or collecting an item. The enemies in these instances are represented as the "Elite" rank, which means the enemy is much stronger, therefore, players tend to group up in 5-man groups(which is the limit) and then enter the instance.
Later in the game, reputation becomes more important, and players will run these instances after completing quests so they can earn recipes and other useful items from reputation vendors. Players may also go through dungeons multiple times if they're seeking particular pieces of equipment. Generally, groups will choose between "need" and "greed" options, and the game will roll a 100-sided die to determine who wins the item. Some players may pass so other party members can benefit. In raids, guilds frequently opt for DKP (dragon kill points) to determine who wins loot. Most of the frustration players experience in this game comes from issues with loot.
If nobody wants an item, someone with the enchanting skill may "disenchant" (also called DE) an item and turn it into enchanting materials. These materials, or "mats," players can use these materials to enchant their items, like weapons or chestplate, so they deal more damage or give more health points, among other things.
Home City: Stormwind
Racial Mount: Horse
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Warlock
Home City: Ironforge
Racial Mount: Ram
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior
Home City: Darnassus
Racial Mount: Nightsaber
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Warrior
Home City: Gnomeregan was the capital city of the gnomes before a trogg invasion led to its downfall. The gnomes now reside in Ironforge.
Racial Mount: Mechanostrider
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Mage, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
Home City: Exodar
Racial Mount: Elekk
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior
Home City: Orgrimmar
Racial Mount: Wolf
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
Home City: Undercity
Racial Mount: Skeletal Horse
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
Home City: Thunder Bluff
Racial Mount: Kodo
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior
Home City: The Darkspear Tribe (the playable troll tribe) lived on the Echo Isles, untill the Kul Tiras fleet attacked them. The trolls got evacuated by Rexxar, and they now reside in Orgrimmar
Racial Mount: Raptor
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior
Home City: Silvermoon City
Racial Mount: Hawkstrider
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock
* Races added in The Burning Crusade.
** Class added in and exclusive to Wrath of the Lich King.
*** The evacuation and attack can be seen and played in a bonus campaign in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
Classes Overview
The game offers 10 character classes to choose from, all with their own unique abilities and "talent" trees (similar to Diablo's skill trees). Before the release of The Burning Crusade expansion pack, the Shaman player class was unique for the Horde and the Paladin class was unique for the Alliance, but due to difficulties in balancing out PvE content, the developers decided to make the Shaman and Paladin available for both factions.
Available to all but one of the games races. Warriors have access to a wide range of special abilities, which they activate by using a unique energy mechanic known as rage. The Warrior enters combat with an empty pool of Rage, remaining so until they block, deal or receive damage, at which point the Rage pool begins to fill. Once enough Rage is accumulated the warrior is able to access their combat skills, spending the pool like the mana or energy of the other classes. Warriors have 3 combat stances: Defensive, Battle, and Berserker stance. Depending on what the situation calls for, these stances let the Warrior adapt to the task at hand. However, changing stances restricts their ability-use to specific skills. Warriors that are in a raiding guild primarily focus on tanking with the Protection spec, but warriors are also capable of performing high DPS with the Fury and Arms spec.
Lore-wise, rogues are assassins, hitmen, or spies. They're primarily melee fighters, but they employ minor mysticism in order to pull off abilities such as Cloak of Shadows (enter a shadow form and dispel many harmful magical effects) or Shadowstep (teleport behind an enemy and increase damage dealt by next attack). Their signature abilities such as ambush (a hard-hitting stab from behind while in stealth) require the player to use daggers, but rogues are free to use one-handed maces, swords and axes as well. In groups, a rogue will be responsible for dealing damage. Sometimes rogues will sap something to incapacitate it so the group can deal with other foes first. Rogues also have a misdirection type ability in "Tricks of the Trade" that gives a damage buff and threat to a chosen target for a limited amount of time. Unlike any of the other classes, rogues use energy instead of a mana or rage in the case of the warrior. The rogue expends energy upon using any special ability, and energy regenerates over time automatically.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Daggers, Fist, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes, Dual-Wielding (req. lvl 10)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Thrown, Bow, Crossbow, Gun
Talent trees : Assassination - Combat - Subtlety
Priests are the primary healer classes of the game but also specialize in support healing and damage. The Holy spec is based around powerful single target and group healing. The Discipline spec is another healing spec but is more built around single target healing, damage prevention and utility. The Shadow spec is the damage dealing spec of the three priest trees. It's focus is on DoT (damage over time) spells such as Shadow Word: Pain and channeled DoTs such as Mind Flay. Shadow priests are also capable of dealing high burst damage with Mind Blast (their main nuking spell) and Shadow Word: Death (a secondary nuking spell that also deals self damage to the priest if the spell does not kill the enemy). The most important spell of the Shadow tree is Shadow Form. The spell when cast transforms the priest into a shadowy form which increases the damage they do with shadow spells and reduces the damage they receive as well as the threat generated by shadow spells.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Maces, Staves, Daggers
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Wand
Talent trees : Discipline - Holy - Shadow
The Paladin is a Holy-Warrior hybrid class serving a powerful entity known as the Holy Light. Paladins have been hit hardest by the scourge as it ravaged many of their numbers during the fall of Lodaeron and saw with it the disbanding of the Knights of the Silver Hand, their most prominent organization. As such, they have developed unique abilities when confronted with the unnatural undead entities of the Lich King and his scourge. Paladins are among the few of the classes with the flexibility to play a variety of different roles including DPS (Retribution), Tanking (Protection), and Healing (Holy). They can cast omnipresent auras along with unique blessings that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy amounts of physical damage with plate armor and strong defensive capabilities. When Holy Speced, Paladins are the only plate wearing healing class in the game.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Shields
Available: Plate (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, Polaearms (req. lvl 20)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: None
Off-Hand Relic: Librams
Talent trees : Holy - Protection - Retribution
Mages are casters that specialize in burst damage and area of effect spells. Their primary role in a group/raid is damage dealing and crowd control through the use of Polymorph. The type of spells that mages use is dependent on the spec they are. For example, frost mages are more effecient with frost spells such as Frostbolt and Ice Lance than other mages that are specced fire or arcane.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Daggers, Staves, One-Handed Swords
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Wand
Talent trees : Arcane - Fire - Frost
Warlocks are damage casters who specialize in both shadow and fire magic. They have a wide arrange of damage over time spells and debuffs. They are also capable of crowd control with spells like fear which cause the enemy to lose control of their actions, running in horror from the warlock. One of their key techniques is the ability to summon several demonic minions to aid them in combat. Examples of such minions are the Voidwalker which controls aggro of the enemy NPC, the Felguard, which is a warrior-like damage pet, and the Felhunter who possesses the ability to remove magical buffs from the enemy target.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Daggers, Staves, One-Handed Swords
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Wand
Talent trees : Affliction - Demonology - Destruction
The Hunter class performs pulling, threat redirection, crowd control and DPS. Hunters have pets that that can play a variety of roles. They can also track, tame, and train animals and beasts found in the wild to fight alongside them in combat, although some creatures are not tamable. Hunters focus on range damage and use abilities such as Wing Clip, Scatter Shot, and Frost trap to slow down, freeze in place, or temporarily confuse the enemy from advancing on the hunter and nulling the hunters damage. In a solo pve enviorment, the ideal hunter relies on his pet for keeping aggro of the enemy NPC.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather
Available: Mail (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Swords, Daggers, Fist, Staves, Polearms (req. lvl 20), Dual-Wielding (req. lvl 20)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Bow, Crossbow, Gun, Thrown
Talent trees : Beast Mastery - Marksmanship - Survival
The Shaman is a hybrid class with the ability of spell casting, melee combat, and healing. Their key technique is the ability to create several magical totems during combat that each offer a different sort of aid, such as health regeneration, to the player and their teammates. Shamans are at one with nature and harness the ability to control the elements with spells such as lighting bolt and frost shock.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Shields
Available: Mail (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, Daggers, Fist, Staves, Dual-Wielding (req. lvl 40)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: None
Off-Hand Relic: Totem
Talent trees : Elemental - Enhancement - Restoration
The Druid is the most versatile class in the game. With the ability to change form, the Druid can switch between healing, tanking, and DPS. It is also available to the least amount of character races. Of the ten playable races, only Night Elves and Tauren may be druids. The druid's three talent tree specs are Balance (offensive spellcasting), Restoration (healing and defensive spellcasting), the restoration specialization is relying a lot on HoT spells (Healing over Time), and Feral, melee combat using the Cat Form (DPS) and Bear Form (Tank). The Cat Form can easily be compared to the Rogue class, because it has abilities like Ambush (Ravage) and Stealth (Prowl); it also utilizes the same Energy System. Meanwhile, the Bear Form can easily compared to the Warrior class with abilities like Charge (Feral Charge), Rend (Lacerate) and Cleave (Swipe). The Bear Form uses the Rage System for energy management.
Druids also possess the ability to change form for traveling purposes. Travel form turns the druid into a cheetah, increasing run speed by 40%. Aquatic form shifts the druid into a sea lion like creature that increases swim speed by 50% and allows the druid to breathe underwater. Flight form changes the druid into a crow that allows the druid to fly at speeds dependent on the druids flight training level.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Staves, One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, Daggers, Fist, Polearms
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: None
Off-Hand Relic: Idol
Talent trees : Balance - Feral - Restoration
The Death Knight is the first hero class of World of Warcraft. Reanimated by the Lich King Arthas to serve his will, Death Knights have always been the backbone of the Scourge army. The Knights of the Ebon Blade, a faction of Death Knights free from Arthas' control, have joined with the Alliance and Horde and are sympathetic to their cause.
A newly created Death Knight will enter the world at level 55 rather than the usual of level 1. A player will not be able create a Death Knight character until they have reached level 55 with one of their non-Death Knight characters on the same account. The Death Knight uses a rune-based combat system for powerful tanking and DPS abilities. For the first three levels, new Death Knights level up in the Scarlet Enclave, an entitely unique zone progressing the story around the class.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Plate
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords
Talent trees : Blood - Frost - Unholy
* The Death Knigt class was added in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Wailing Caverns, WC, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 17-20
Blackfathom Dephts, BFD, Ashenvale, 5 Players, lvl 22-24
Razorfen Kraul, RFK, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 24-27
Razorfen Downs, RFD, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 34-37
Zul-Farrak, ZF, Tanaris, 5 Players, lvl 43-46
Maraudon, Mara, Desolace, 5 Players, lvl 42-48
Dire Maul: East, DM East, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 55-58
Dire Maul: West, DM West, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60
Dire Maul: North, DM North, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60
Onyxia's Lair, Ony, Dustwallow Marsh, 40 Players, lvl 60
Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, AQ20, Silithus, 20 Players, lvl 60
Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, AQ40, Silithus, 40 Players, lvl 60
Shadowfang Keep, SFK, Silverpine Forest, 5 Players, lvl 18-21
Stormwind Stockades, Stocks, Stormwind, 5 Players, lvl 23-25
Gnomeregan, Gnomer, Dun Morogh, 5 Players, lvl 25-28
The Scarlet Monestary: Graveyard, SM GY, 5 Players, lvl 30-32
The Scarlet Monestary: Library, SM Lib, 5 Players, lvl 33-35
The Scarlet Monestary: Armory, SM Arm, 5 Players, lvl 35-37
The Scarlet Monestary: Cathedral, SM Cath, 5 Players, lvl 36-40
Uldaman, Ulda, Badlands, 5 Players, lvl 36-40
Temple of Atal'Hakkar, ST, 5 Players, lvl 45-50
Blackrock Depths, BRD, 5 Players, lvl 48-56
Lower Blackrock Spire, LBRS, 5 Players, lvl 54-50
Upper Blackrock Spire, UBRS, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Stratholme, Strat, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Scholomance, Scholo, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Zul'Gurub, ZG, 20 Players, lvl 60
Molten Core, MC, 40 Players, lvl 60
Blackwing Lair, BWL, 40 Players, lvl 60
* Magister's Terrace, MT, Isle of Quel'Danas, 5 Players, lvl 70
*Added in Burning Crusade. All 5 Player dungeons can be set to Heroic lvl 70 mode.
**Added in Wrath of the Lich King. All dungeons can be set to Heroic lvl 80 mode.
Brewfest is in an annual event that pops up in Fall, outside the major cities of Azeroth that can be celebrated by both the
Alliance and the Horde. There are two major celebrations that are set up outside of Ironforge and Orgimmar, but there is also smaller celebrations at Stormwind, Exodar, Shattrath, Thunder Bluff, Undercity, Darnassus, and Silvermoon City. Brewfest is celebrated every year between September 20 and October 4, and during this time, players can play game like Ram Racing where they race against the clock on the back of a surprisingly fast large animal. If they win the game, the players can earn Brewfest tokens that they can then exchange for great in-game prizes. But players should make sure to spend their earned Brewfest tokens before the event is over because when that happens, the tokens are pretty much useless until next year when the event happens again.
innkeepers and vendors of Azeroth and the Outlands, between October 18 and November 1. Hallow's End is not an exclusive holiday, so both the Alliance and the Horde factions can be part of the seasonal festivities. During this holiday, players can go up to any innkeeper and get a Treat-bag that may contain either a surprising gift or a nasty trick. But if asking innkeepers for free candy isn't your style, you can always go up to the vendors in Ironforge or Orgrimmar and buy all the candy you like. However, if your in the charitable mood during the celebration, there is Jesper in Stormwind and Spoops in Orgrimmar who aren't able to celebrate Hallow's End because they are orphans. Players can help those two orphans by taking the treats they get from innkeepers and giving them to the two sad orphans.
travels to most of the great cities of Azeroth like Ironforge and Orgrimmar to spread (Christmas) holiday cheer. During this time period, all of the dungeon bosses will wear festive red and green hats, that players can get for themselves if they can kill them. Also, Innkeepers will decorate their inns with (Christmas) lights of many different colors. But the real celebrations start on December 25th and go until January 2, in which the goblins of Smokeywood Pastures sneak into town and leave gifts under the decorated trees in Ironforge and Orgrimmar. But Players must be quick because these gifts are there for the taking and might get snatched up before you get the chance.
Game Expansions
As any other MMORPG, World of Warcraft have also received additional expansion packs. These expansion packs, however, have not only added new continents and dungeons, but also added entirely new game-changing features like i.e. arenas and siege vehicles.
Released on January the 16th 2007, The Burning Crusade was the first expansion pack released for the highly popular World of Warcraft. Apart from increasing the level cap to 70, the game also added two new playable races: Draenei for the Alliance and Blood Elves for the Horde. Like all Blizzard expansion packs, The Burning Crusade improved upon the existing gameplay while adding new elements. Arguably the biggest change was making the Paladin and Shaman classes available to both factions, thus balancing the two factions in terms of class availability. The expansion also introduced arenas, which allowed players to team up with their friends and compete against others in gladiatorial styled matches . This has become increasingly popular over the last few years, and sponsored tournaments are held throughout the world. This gameplay mode and the resulting tournaments has seen World of Warcraft inch towards the status of an e-Sport.
Main features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade:
Main features of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King:
Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is Blizzard's upcoming third expansion for World of Warcraft and was officially announced on
August 21, 2009 at BlizzCon 2009.
Windows® System 2000/XP/Vista OS:*
Mac® OS X 10.3.9:*
*Note: Because this game is consistently updated, the minimum system requirements have and may continue to change over time
Windows® System 2000/XP/Vista OS:
Mac® OS X 10.3.9 or newer:
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World of Warcraft Issues the Call of the Crusade
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World of Warcraft is an MMORPG that takes place in Blizzard Entertainment's Warcraft universe. It boasts a player base of eleven and a half million subscribers, making it the most popular MMO on the planet.
Overview
World of Warcraft, also known as "WoW," was released in North America and Australia on November 23rd, 2004. European and Asian releases came early in the following year.The game's universe begins in the world where Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne left off. The game tells most of its story through quests and dungeons, or by larger groups of players completing certain major challenges, like defeating Illidan, Lady Vashj, and other characters from the Warcraft universe. In World of Warcraft, the races are divided evenly into two factions: Horde and Alliance.
Gameplay
Initially, players complete hundreds of quests from level 1 to 60; Burning Crusade extended that to 70 and Wrath of the Lich King to 80. Players typically hotkey their abilities and use them as the classes' various resource systems (rage, energy, mana, runes) allow. The 10 classes have greatly varying capabilities and many can change their role in a group depending on how they allocate their Diablo-like talent points. For example: a priest is typically responsible for healing a group, but can choose a Shadow specialization, thereby making them more suitable for dealing damage. Many of a class's core abilities, however, will remain intact, and the player will continue using these spells. Example: a rogue will always use stealth.Quests provide experience points, money, reputation, and sometimes items for completion. Experience is required to rise in levels, and money is used to buy things like mounts, which become available at level 30, buying items on the auction house, and buying services or items from other players.
It's not unusual during times of world server problems for players to be disconnected or experience lag, and those in dungeons, battlegrounds, and raids are entirely unaffected. Example: the Malfurion server can disconnect everyone on the Kalimdor side (one of the game's continents), but a group in Shadowfang Keep will experience no such problems.
Instances have their own quests, and require killing the end boss or collecting an item. The enemies in these instances are represented as the "Elite" rank, which means the enemy is much stronger, therefore, players tend to group up in 5-man groups(which is the limit) and then enter the instance.
Later in the game, reputation becomes more important, and players will run these instances after completing quests so they can earn recipes and other useful items from reputation vendors. Players may also go through dungeons multiple times if they're seeking particular pieces of equipment. Generally, groups will choose between "need" and "greed" options, and the game will roll a 100-sided die to determine who wins the item. Some players may pass so other party members can benefit. In raids, guilds frequently opt for DKP (dragon kill points) to determine who wins loot. Most of the frustration players experience in this game comes from issues with loot.
If nobody wants an item, someone with the enchanting skill may "disenchant" (also called DE) an item and turn it into enchanting materials. These materials, or "mats," players can use these materials to enchant their items, like weapons or chestplate, so they deal more damage or give more health points, among other things.
Playable Races
Alliance Races
- Humans
Home City: Stormwind
Racial Mount: Horse
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior, Warlock
- Dwarves
Home City: Ironforge
Racial Mount: Ram
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warrior
- Night Elves
Home City: Darnassus
Racial Mount: Nightsaber
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Druid, Hunter, Priest, Rogue, Warrior
- Gnomes
Home City: Gnomeregan was the capital city of the gnomes before a trogg invasion led to its downfall. The gnomes now reside in Ironforge.
Racial Mount: Mechanostrider
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Mage, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
- Draenei*
Home City: Exodar
Racial Mount: Elekk
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Shaman, Warrior
Horde Races
- Orcs
Home City: Orgrimmar
Racial Mount: Wolf
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior
- Undead (aka The Forsaken)
Home City: Undercity
Racial Mount: Skeletal Horse
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior
- Tauren
Home City: Thunder Bluff
Racial Mount: Kodo
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior
- Trolls
Home City: The Darkspear Tribe (the playable troll tribe) lived on the Echo Isles, untill the Kul Tiras fleet attacked them. The trolls got evacuated by Rexxar, and they now reside in Orgrimmar
Racial Mount: Raptor
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior
- Blood Elves*
Home City: Silvermoon City
Racial Mount: Hawkstrider
Available Classes: Death Knight**, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Warlock
* Races added in The Burning Crusade.
** Class added in and exclusive to Wrath of the Lich King.
*** The evacuation and attack can be seen and played in a bonus campaign in Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne.
Classes Overview
The game offers 10 character classes to choose from, all with their own unique abilities and "talent" trees (similar to Diablo's skill trees). Before the release of The Burning Crusade expansion pack, the Shaman player class was unique for the Horde and the Paladin class was unique for the Alliance, but due to difficulties in balancing out PvE content, the developers decided to make the Shaman and Paladin available for both factions.Warrior
Human Warrior
Available to all but one of the games races. Warriors have access to a wide range of special abilities, which they activate by using a unique energy mechanic known as rage. The Warrior enters combat with an empty pool of Rage, remaining so until they block, deal or receive damage, at which point the Rage pool begins to fill. Once enough Rage is accumulated the warrior is able to access their combat skills, spending the pool like the mana or energy of the other classes. Warriors have 3 combat stances: Defensive, Battle, and Berserker stance. Depending on what the situation calls for, these stances let the Warrior adapt to the task at hand. However, changing stances restricts their ability-use to specific skills. Warriors that are in a raiding guild primarily focus on tanking with the Protection spec, but warriors are also capable of performing high DPS with the Fury and Arms spec.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Shields
Available: Plate (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Swords, Two-handed Swords, One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, Daggers, Fist, Staves, Polearms (req. lvl 20), Dual-wielding (req. lvl 20)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Gun, Bow, Crossbow, Thrown
Talent trees : Arms - Fury - Protection
Rogue
Troll Rogue
Lore-wise, rogues are assassins, hitmen, or spies. They're primarily melee fighters, but they employ minor mysticism in order to pull off abilities such as Cloak of Shadows (enter a shadow form and dispel many harmful magical effects) or Shadowstep (teleport behind an enemy and increase damage dealt by next attack). Their signature abilities such as ambush (a hard-hitting stab from behind while in stealth) require the player to use daggers, but rogues are free to use one-handed maces, swords and axes as well. In groups, a rogue will be responsible for dealing damage. Sometimes rogues will sap something to incapacitate it so the group can deal with other foes first. Rogues also have a misdirection type ability in "Tricks of the Trade" that gives a damage buff and threat to a chosen target for a limited amount of time. Unlike any of the other classes, rogues use energy instead of a mana or rage in the case of the warrior. The rogue expends energy upon using any special ability, and energy regenerates over time automatically.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Daggers, Fist, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes, Dual-Wielding (req. lvl 10)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Thrown, Bow, Crossbow, Gun
Talent trees : Assassination - Combat - Subtlety
Priest
Undead Priest
Priests are the primary healer classes of the game but also specialize in support healing and damage. The Holy spec is based around powerful single target and group healing. The Discipline spec is another healing spec but is more built around single target healing, damage prevention and utility. The Shadow spec is the damage dealing spec of the three priest trees. It's focus is on DoT (damage over time) spells such as Shadow Word: Pain and channeled DoTs such as Mind Flay. Shadow priests are also capable of dealing high burst damage with Mind Blast (their main nuking spell) and Shadow Word: Death (a secondary nuking spell that also deals self damage to the priest if the spell does not kill the enemy). The most important spell of the Shadow tree is Shadow Form. The spell when cast transforms the priest into a shadowy form which increases the damage they do with shadow spells and reduces the damage they receive as well as the threat generated by shadow spells.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Maces, Staves, Daggers
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Wand
Talent trees : Discipline - Holy - Shadow
Paladin
Blood-Elf Paladin
The Paladin is a Holy-Warrior hybrid class serving a powerful entity known as the Holy Light. Paladins have been hit hardest by the scourge as it ravaged many of their numbers during the fall of Lodaeron and saw with it the disbanding of the Knights of the Silver Hand, their most prominent organization. As such, they have developed unique abilities when confronted with the unnatural undead entities of the Lich King and his scourge. Paladins are among the few of the classes with the flexibility to play a variety of different roles including DPS (Retribution), Tanking (Protection), and Healing (Holy). They can cast omnipresent auras along with unique blessings that provide useful buffs for other players while withstanding heavy amounts of physical damage with plate armor and strong defensive capabilities. When Holy Speced, Paladins are the only plate wearing healing class in the game.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Mail, Shields
Available: Plate (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Swords, One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, Polaearms (req. lvl 20)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: None
Off-Hand Relic: Librams
Talent trees : Holy - Protection - Retribution
Mage
Blood-Elf Mage
Mages are casters that specialize in burst damage and area of effect spells. Their primary role in a group/raid is damage dealing and crowd control through the use of Polymorph. The type of spells that mages use is dependent on the spec they are. For example, frost mages are more effecient with frost spells such as Frostbolt and Ice Lance than other mages that are specced fire or arcane.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Daggers, Staves, One-Handed Swords
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Wand
Talent trees : Arcane - Fire - Frost
Warlock
Orc Warlock
Warlocks are damage casters who specialize in both shadow and fire magic. They have a wide arrange of damage over time spells and debuffs. They are also capable of crowd control with spells like fear which cause the enemy to lose control of their actions, running in horror from the warlock. One of their key techniques is the ability to summon several demonic minions to aid them in combat. Examples of such minions are the Voidwalker which controls aggro of the enemy NPC, the Felguard, which is a warrior-like damage pet, and the Felhunter who possesses the ability to remove magical buffs from the enemy target.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Daggers, Staves, One-Handed Swords
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Wand
Talent trees : Affliction - Demonology - Destruction
Hunter
Night-Elf Hunter
The Hunter class performs pulling, threat redirection, crowd control and DPS. Hunters have pets that that can play a variety of roles. They can also track, tame, and train animals and beasts found in the wild to fight alongside them in combat, although some creatures are not tamable. Hunters focus on range damage and use abilities such as Wing Clip, Scatter Shot, and Frost trap to slow down, freeze in place, or temporarily confuse the enemy from advancing on the hunter and nulling the hunters damage. In a solo pve enviorment, the ideal hunter relies on his pet for keeping aggro of the enemy NPC.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather
Available: Mail (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Swords, Daggers, Fist, Staves, Polearms (req. lvl 20), Dual-Wielding (req. lvl 20)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: Bow, Crossbow, Gun, Thrown
Talent trees : Beast Mastery - Marksmanship - Survival
Shaman
Troll Shaman
The Shaman is a hybrid class with the ability of spell casting, melee combat, and healing. Their key technique is the ability to create several magical totems during combat that each offer a different sort of aid, such as health regeneration, to the player and their teammates. Shamans are at one with nature and harness the ability to control the elements with spells such as lighting bolt and frost shock.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather, Shields
Available: Mail (req. lvl 40)
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, One-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Axes, Daggers, Fist, Staves, Dual-Wielding (req. lvl 40)
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: None
Off-Hand Relic: Totem
Talent trees : Elemental - Enhancement - Restoration
Druid
Tauren Druid
The Druid is the most versatile class in the game. With the ability to change form, the Druid can switch between healing, tanking, and DPS. It is also available to the least amount of character races. Of the ten playable races, only Night Elves and Tauren may be druids. The druid's three talent tree specs are Balance (offensive spellcasting), Restoration (healing and defensive spellcasting), the restoration specialization is relying a lot on HoT spells (Healing over Time), and Feral, melee combat using the Cat Form (DPS) and Bear Form (Tank). The Cat Form can easily be compared to the Rogue class, because it has abilities like Ambush (Ravage) and Stealth (Prowl); it also utilizes the same Energy System. Meanwhile, the Bear Form can easily compared to the Warrior class with abilities like Charge (Feral Charge), Rend (Lacerate) and Cleave (Swipe). The Bear Form uses the Rage System for energy management.
Druids also possess the ability to change form for traveling purposes. Travel form turns the druid into a cheetah, increasing run speed by 40%. Aquatic form shifts the druid into a sea lion like creature that increases swim speed by 50% and allows the druid to breathe underwater. Flight form changes the druid into a crow that allows the druid to fly at speeds dependent on the druids flight training level.
Armor Proficiencies: Cloth, Leather
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: Staves, One-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Maces, Daggers, Fist, Polearms
Ranged Weapon Proficiencies: None
Off-Hand Relic: Idol
Talent trees : Balance - Feral - Restoration
Death Knight*
Undead Death Knight
The Death Knight is the first hero class of World of Warcraft. Reanimated by the Lich King Arthas to serve his will, Death Knights have always been the backbone of the Scourge army. The Knights of the Ebon Blade, a faction of Death Knights free from Arthas' control, have joined with the Alliance and Horde and are sympathetic to their cause.
A newly created Death Knight will enter the world at level 55 rather than the usual of level 1. A player will not be able create a Death Knight character until they have reached level 55 with one of their non-Death Knight characters on the same account. The Death Knight uses a rune-based combat system for powerful tanking and DPS abilities. For the first three levels, new Death Knights level up in the Scarlet Enclave, an entitely unique zone progressing the story around the class.
Primary Armor Proficiencies: Plate
Melee Weapon Proficiencies: One-Handed Axes, One-Handed Maces, One-Handed Swords, Two-Handed Axes, Two-Handed Maces, Two-Handed Swords
Talent trees : Blood - Frost - Unholy
* The Death Knigt class was added in World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King.
Dungeons
Dungeons in World of Warcraft are often referred to as "instances" and there are plenty of them found throughout the world. Here's a list of every dungeon in the game as of February 2009. Dungeons are listed using the format <Name - Abbrevation - Zone - Players - Recommended level>Kalimdor
Ragefire Chasm, RFC, Orgrimmar, 5 Players, lvl 13-16Wailing Caverns, WC, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 17-20
Blackfathom Dephts, BFD, Ashenvale, 5 Players, lvl 22-24
Razorfen Kraul, RFK, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 24-27
Razorfen Downs, RFD, The Barrens, 5 Players, lvl 34-37
Zul-Farrak, ZF, Tanaris, 5 Players, lvl 43-46
Maraudon, Mara, Desolace, 5 Players, lvl 42-48
Dire Maul: East, DM East, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 55-58
Dire Maul: West, DM West, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60
Dire Maul: North, DM North, Feralas, 5 Players, lvl 57-60
Onyxia's Lair, Ony, Dustwallow Marsh, 40 Players, lvl 60
Ruins of Ahn'Qiraj, AQ20, Silithus, 20 Players, lvl 60
Temple of Ahn'Qiraj, AQ40, Silithus, 40 Players, lvl 60
Eastern Kingdoms
The Deadmines, VC, Westfall, 5 Players, lvl 17-20Shadowfang Keep, SFK, Silverpine Forest, 5 Players, lvl 18-21
Stormwind Stockades, Stocks, Stormwind, 5 Players, lvl 23-25
Gnomeregan, Gnomer, Dun Morogh, 5 Players, lvl 25-28
The Scarlet Monestary: Graveyard, SM GY, 5 Players, lvl 30-32
The Scarlet Monestary: Library, SM Lib, 5 Players, lvl 33-35
The Scarlet Monestary: Armory, SM Arm, 5 Players, lvl 35-37
The Scarlet Monestary: Cathedral, SM Cath, 5 Players, lvl 36-40
Uldaman, Ulda, Badlands, 5 Players, lvl 36-40
Temple of Atal'Hakkar, ST, 5 Players, lvl 45-50
Blackrock Depths, BRD, 5 Players, lvl 48-56
Lower Blackrock Spire, LBRS, 5 Players, lvl 54-50
Upper Blackrock Spire, UBRS, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Stratholme, Strat, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Scholomance, Scholo, 5 Players, lvl 58-60
Zul'Gurub, ZG, 20 Players, lvl 60
Molten Core, MC, 40 Players, lvl 60
Blackwing Lair, BWL, 40 Players, lvl 60
* Magister's Terrace, MT, Isle of Quel'Danas, 5 Players, lvl 70
*Added in Burning Crusade. All 5 Player dungeons can be set to Heroic lvl 70 mode.
**Added in Wrath of the Lich King. All dungeons can be set to Heroic lvl 80 mode.
In-Game Events
World of Warcraft contains several annual world events like Brewfest, Hallow's End, Midsummer Festival, Love is in the Air and many others. Here some of them are explained in detail:Brewfest
Brewfest is in an annual event that pops up in Fall, outside the major cities of Azeroth that can be celebrated by both the
Hallow's End
Being a kind of parody of the October 31 holiday, Halloween. Hallow's End is a holiday that is celebrated by all the
The Headless Horseman
Feast of Winter Veil
Starting in December and ending in January, the Feast of Winter Veil is a celebration where Greatfather Winter,
Game Expansions
As any other MMORPG, World of Warcraft have also received additional expansion packs. These expansion packs, however, have not only added new continents and dungeons, but also added entirely new game-changing features like i.e. arenas and siege vehicles.The Burning Crusade
The Burning Crusade
Main features of World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade:
- Level cap increased to 70
- New spells and talents for each class
- Two new playable races: Blood Elves and Draenei
- The new continent of Outland including 6 new zones, 13 five-man instances and 5 raid instances
- New content added to the existing world including 5 new zones, 1 five-man instance and 3 raid instances
- New profession: Jewelcrafting
- Flying Mounts (although only available in Outland)
- Arena tournaments
Wrath of the Lich King
Wrath of the Lich King is the newest installment in the Warcraft franchise. It was released on November 13th, 2008.
Wrath of the Lich King
Main features of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King:
- Level cap increased to 80
- New spells and talents for each class
- New hero class: Death Knight
- Access to the continent of Northrend
- New profession: Inscription
- Controllable siege weapons and destructible environments
- "Barber Shops" that will allow users to change their characters' hairstyles
- New Battleground: Strand of the Ancients
- New world PvP zone: Lake Wintergrasp
Cataclysm
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm is Blizzard's upcoming third expansion for World of Warcraft and was officially announced on August 21, 2009 at BlizzCon 2009.
Cataclysm
- Level cap raised to 85
- New Alliance race: Worgen, with Gilneas as starting zone
- New Horde race: Goblins, with Lost Isles as starting zone
- New Secondary Profession: Archaeology
- Classic world revamp of every zone with updated quests, art and items
- New Race/Class combos, such as gnome priests, tauren paladins and undead hunters
- Flying in Azeroth, all zones
Game Patches
World of Warcraft is constantly updates with bugfixes and New Features, these patches are required to play the game.- Patch 1.2 added the dungeon "Maraudon", The Gurubashi arena and a christmas Event Called Winters Vale.
- Patch 1.3 added the winged dungeon of Dire Maul and A feature called Meeting stones as well as altering the UI
- Patch 1.4 added the PVP honour rank System and the Elemental Invasions Event.
- Patch 1.5 added the Battlegrounds of Alterac Valley and Warsong Gulch as well as reputation questlines.
- Patch 1.6 Added A Raid Dungeon Called Blackwing Lair, BattleMasters and an Event called the Darkmoon Fair
- Patch 1.7 added the Battleground of Arathi Basin as well as he New raid Dungeon Zul Gurub
- Patch 1.8 added the outdoor raid encounters known as the dragons of nightmare as well as the event based on Halloween known as Hallows End
- Patch 1.9 added 2 Raid Dungeons in Silithus and Altered the Auction House System Signifigantly
- Patch 1.10 Added weather effects to the game
- Patch 1.11 Added the Dungeon Naxxramas and the inventory Feature known as keyrings
- Patch 1.12 Added world PVP areas and cross realm battlegrounds
- Patch 2.0.1 Introduced several features from "The Burning Crusade Expansion Pack" to the game such as a new honor system and Arena System.
More Patches were added to the Expansions of the game.
System Requirements
Minimum System Requirements
Windows® System 2000/XP/Vista OS:*
- Intel Pentium® III 800 MHz or AMD Athlon 800 MHz
- 512 MB RAM
- 32 MB 3D Graphics Processor, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ 2 class card or above
- DirectX® 9.0c (included) and latest video drivers
- 10.0 GB available HD space
- 4x CD-ROM drive
- Broadband Internet connection
Mac® OS X 10.3.9:*
- 933 MHz or higher G4, G5, or Intel processor
- 512 MB RAM or higher
- 3D Graphics Processor with 32 MB VRAM
- 10.0 GB available HD space
- 4x CD-Rom drive
- Broadband Internet connection
*Note: Because this game is consistently updated, the minimum system requirements have and may continue to change over time
Recommended Specifications
Windows® System 2000/XP/Vista OS:
- Intel Pentium® IV 1.5 GHz or AMD XP 1500
- 1 GB RAM
- 64 MB 3D Graphics Processor, such as NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX5700 class card or above
- Two-button scroll-wheel mouse
Mac® OS X 10.3.9 or newer:
- 1 GB RAM
- G5 or Intel Processor
- ATI or NVIDIA® 3D Graphics Processor with 64 MB VRAM
- Two-button scroll-wheel mouse
Soundtrack
The music for World of Warcraft was composed by Jason Hayes and Blizzard's sound department and is available in CD format from the Blizzard online store.1. "Legends of Azeroth" 2:40
2. "The Shaping of the World" 2:24
3. "Legacy” 2:25
4. "Song of Elune” 2:13
5. "Echoes of the Past" 1:53
6. "A Call to Arms" 2:18
7. "Seasons of War" 2:57
Soundtrack Cover
8. "Stormwind" 2:14
9. "Orgrimmar" 2:14
10. "The Undercity" 2:27
11. "Thunder Bluff" 2:35
12. "Darnassus" 2:44
13. "Ironforge" 2:14
14. "" 3.03
15. "Duskwood" 6.01
16. "Dun Morogh" 7:30
17. "Burning Steppes" 2:26
18. "Shimmering Flats" 4:07
19. "Felwood" 2:37
20. "Stranglethorn Vale" 4:12
21. "Tanaris" 4:31
22. "Teldrassil" 3:55
23. "Tavern" 1:13
24. "Moonfall" 0:48
25. "Ruins" 1:16
26. "" 1:03
27. "Lurking" 1:00
28. "Sacred" 1:10
29. "Graveyard" 1:07
30. "War" 0:49
| Game Name | World of Warcraft |
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| Original US Release |
Nov. 23, 2004
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| Aliases |
WoW |
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Guide to Paladin Blessings
This is a quick guide describing the mechanics of Paladin 'Greater' Blessings in a raid environment.
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